


The Discourse of Color

by Ramabear (RyMagnatar)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Naruto
Genre: Aura - Freeform, Aura Control, Colorblindness, Consensual Infidelity, Convoluted Revenge Plots, F/M, Gen, Genetic Testing, Hospitals, Infidelity, M/M, Open Relationships, Police, Rough Sex, Secret Networks of Spies, Sexual Content, Spies, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 19:51:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3949519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyMagnatar/pseuds/Ramabear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To the casual observer, Shisui works well within the boundaries of his life. He's a decent cop, a good friend and a compassionate cousin. He works hard at taking care of himself and those few that are dear to him. He might not get along with his father's Clan all that often, but that doesn't stop them from giving him responsibilities to the clan itself. </p><p>Under the smiles, though, is the vengeful temperament of his father's bloodline and the stubborn aggression of his mother's bloodline. All it takes is the right kind of prodding, the right kind of bait, and Shisui will rise to face it with whatever tools are at his disposal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All the Hours in a Day

**Author's Note:**

> There's been some major upheaval of the story's plot and function. So I'm ironing out the details and I'll be changing any tags later that need to be changed. Enjoy.

**_Five AM_ **

 

Blanket tossed back with one arm, the other pushed Shisui upright in his bed before he was awake enough to open his eyes. Half asleep, he folded up his bedding and put it aside. The grey predawn light came in through the small windows at the top of the walls of his room. He dressed by this light, tugging on the dark sleeves over his arms, stepping into the legs of his pants and slipping the belt through its proper loops with his eyes bleary from sleep. Yawning, he left his room and stepped into the hall.

The light was brighter here, lit by a lamp in the middle of the hallway and then farther on by the light of the bathroom. He went there first, brushing teeth with one eye open and relieving his bladder with his chin against his chest.

By the time he was out of the bathroom, his fingers were awake enough to button up his dark shirt and run a comb through his unruly hair. He stepped back into his bedroom, picking up badge, gun and bag; the first he pocketed, the second he strapped onto his hip, the third he slung over his shoulder.

At the end of the hall were stairs he took down to the entryway and the kitchen on the first floor. By this time, the light from the sun outside had begun to strengthen, but it still was barely more than that silver-white smear of pre-dawn. In the kitchen, Shisui said his first words of the day. “Mornin’ Baa-san,” he greeted the elderly woman with a smile and accepted the mug that she held out to him.

A simple breakfast waited at the table for him, and this he ate by himself, washing it down with the coffee as he did. Seven other places were set at the table, but at this early in the morning, Shisui was the only boarder awake. Finishing the small meal, he cleared his dishes to the sink and accepted the container she handed to him afterwards. “Your rent is due at the end of the week,” Baa-san said, eyeing him. “Don’t forget again. You’re always forgetting what day it is, Shisui-san.”

“Sorry,” Shisui bowed his head slightly, “I’ll remember. I promise.” He took the packed lunch and put it into his shoulder bag.

“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep, boy,” The old woman said as he walked from the room. He paused at the door, almost looking back over his shoulder at her words, but then shook his head and continued on his way.

 

 *  *

The sun was hidden behind buildings and hills, but its light shone across the sky as Shisui’s bike carried him down busy streets and around the early morning commuters. He was at work in minutes, locking up his bike and taking the steps to the front door two at a time with his bag bouncing on his side. He checked in at the front, showing badge and ID to the tired woman who sat at the front desk, sipping her coffee and spinning a pen in her hand. She wore a single, bright red barrette in her hair. Shisui stared at it too long and got a concerned look for his interest, but he left before explaining himself. 

A full elevator made Shisui take the stairs to the seventh floor instead, winding him by the time he reached his stop. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand, caught his breath, and then left the stairwell and entered the main hallway.

Making a detour to the lockers tucked into a room just to the right of the elevators, Shisui casually greeted his coworkers as they went about their own morning routines. He offered one or two smiles, but they were halfhearted at best. In his locker he stored his bag, taking out the lunch and a few other key items before shutting the door and leaving the room.

His desk was one of many in a room with more desks and chairs than windows. Shisui put his lunch into a drawer and took his seat. A stack of folders sat on every corner of his desk and a half dozen more were on the middle. These were haphazardly lain there by the night shift. Looking up, he could see the tired faces of those just getting off of work as they left the main office room and went to get their things and leave. Skimming a few of the files, unconnected names names slipped the grasp of his mind while the actions and the images in the cases landed and stuck. He grimaced.

“Shisui-san,” a voice from a few desks over addressed him, “Time to check in. Duty transfer started already.”

“Yes. Of course.” Abandoning the files for later, Shisui stood.

Six fifteen AM. Time for work to really begin.

 

* * *

 

**_Three PM_ **

 

The door squawked as it was pushed open. Shisui slowly drew his eyes down from the white clouds overhead and looked to see who it was coming out onto the roof. “Figured you’d be up here,”  Obito smiled as he said.

Obito tossed a can to him, which Shisui deftly caught, turned to read the name of and then popped the top. It began to fizz immediately and he hurried to drink it to keep it from overflowing onto his hand.

“You and your rooftop lunches. You pulled this trick every chance you got back in school.” Obito walked over to his side and sat down with a thump onto the hard concrete. He wasn’t alone, though, and his half shadow of a partner followed him across the roof. Kakashi gave a wave to Shisui as he sat down on Obito’s other side. He had his own can to drink from, as well as a wrapped sandwich. Kakashi lowered his courtesy mask to eat his lunch.

Obito pulled open his bag of food and began to eat. “Packed lunch again, huh Shisui? Lucky you, having a girl at home to make you breakfast and lunch every day.”

Shisui smirked back at him, popping a sausage into his mouth, “What happened to that last girl, Obi-kun? Did she find your hentai stash you keep under your bed?”

“I told you, those aren’t mine!” Obito’s face darkened with the familiar flush of embarrassment. “I’m keeping them for a friend.”

Shisui laughed, “You’ve been saying that since highschool, and you think I’m the one who hasn’t changed since then.” He took a swig from the can and sighed. “This is good coffee. Which machine did you get it from?”

“I didn’t pick it out, Kakashi did,” Obito said with a gestured thumb to his partner. “He picked up three when he went out to get drinks for lunch.” He chomped down on his food and then said, still chewing, “Speaking of partners, where’s yours?”

“Lunch with the fiance,” Shisui shrugged, “They’re picking out the cake flavor today, or so I’ve heard. I guess Takeshi is luckier than either of us when it comes to women, huh?”

“We’ll see,” Obito said, “Who knows what this Hiroko is really like. Give it a couple of years, then we’ll see who’s the lucky one; him with a screaming wife and baby or us with our separate apartments from our girlfriends.”

Shisui laughed, shaking his head. “One for the weekdays, one for the weekends and one that you can bring home to mom and dad.”

Obito joined in his laughter, slapping him on the shoulder as he did so. Kakashi watched them, chuckling along with their banter.

Shisui finished his lunch before them. He checked his watch and then his phone. There was a text from his partner.  “I’m supposed to meet Takeshi soon. I’ll see you later, Obi-kun.” He got to his feet, brushing himself off and tucking his bento box under one arm. He crushed the empty coffee can under his heel and picked that up as well.

“Obi-kun, huh. When are you going to start calling me by my proper title, Shisui? We’re not kids anymore, you know.” Obito said it with a smile, still teasing his cousin.

Shisui turned a serious expression to him and bowed his head, “My apologies, Sergeant Uchiha. It will not happen again, sir.”

“Shisui…” Obito frowned.

Flashing a quick smirk, Shisui turned away from the pair and said over his shoulder, “You shouldn’t be so gullible, Obi-kun. You could get yourself hurt that way and then where would I be without my Sergeant?” He lifted his hand in a wave, though he didn’t turn back to them before stepping through the door and back into the building.

Obito sighed, leaning back against the low wall. His head rested against the chain link of the fencing attached to the top of the half wall. “I’d rather not think about it, Shisui…” He answered his cousin’s question softly. Kakashi glanced over to him and then shrugged, pulling out his book and flipping back to where he left off to read.

Glancing up at the clouds, Obito wondered what Shisui had seen in them, before he came upstairs to eat lunch with him.

 

* * *

 

 

**_Five PM_ **

 

Clear broken glass crunched under Shisui’s boot. He stepped forwards slowly, one hand holding his gun, the other following the brick wall he walked beside. Clouds had formed thick overhead, casting the city into early darkness of twilight. Streetlights were on already, but they were behind him now as he edged through the narrow hallway behind the warehouse. He took careful, even breaths, moved as quietly as he could and listened for any noise.  His eyes, adjusting quickly to the darkness, searched the shadows for a doorway. There were windows, but they were boarded up with wood from the inside and did nothing but reflect irregular beams of light from the other end of the alleyway on their broken glass panes.

Suddenly hearing footsteps from inside the building to his left, Shisui dropped to the right wall and moved along it, gun drawn up.

A doorway burst open in a flash of light, burst of smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Shisui saw a man leap through the smoke, clearing the steps of the door and leg it down the alleyway. “Police!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

In one moment, Shisui had a perfectly clear shot on the light haired man as he headed for the end of the alleyway and the chain link fence that blocked the exit. In the next, another person who couldn't have been any more than seventeen was facing him down. He brought a bat down in a swinging arc that Shisui rolled to avoid. Shisui was on his feet a moment later, but wasn’t quite fast enough to fully dodge the second swing. The edge of the bat hit the top of his gun, the shock of the hit numbing his hand and sending the weapon flying.

The teen flashed a grin at him and took off after the first man. Shisui snatched up the gun with his free hand and went after him. Using a surge of aura energy, Shisui lent strength to his legs and speed to his body as he chased the man to the end of the alleyway.

Before his very eyes, he watched as the baseball bat came slashing down at the chain link fence and the metal parted like paper under shears. The kid ducked through the opening in the fence and made it out the other side. Shisui followed, only a few steps behind.

As he rounded the corner, he saw the kid heading towards a car that was driving towards them. The headlights lit Shisui up, and he skidded to a stop. Lifting his gun, he braced it with the semi-numb hand and let out a slow breath. The first shot rang out and sparked along the roof of the car. The second shot skidded along the hood of the moving car and into a wall behind it. The third shot hit its mark and the running teen stopped mid stride with a pain-filled shout. The car swerved suddenly, to avoid the fallen kid and Shisui fired again. The front left tire went out and the car decelerated suddenly when the front of it slammed into a dumpster hidden in the shadow of the alley.

Smoke began to rise from the engine, but the driver, the grey haired man from before, kicked open his door and got out. He held something in his hand and Shisui could see the glow of a cigarette in his mouth. “Takeshi!” The man shouted, “Can you get up?”

Whatever it was he held in his hands, he lifted it to his mouth long enough for the end of it to catch flame. Shisui recognized the spark of a fuse as the lit bomb flew through the air towards him. He cursed, lowering his gun long enough to leap forward. That same energy that had given him extra speed before fueled him once more and he came rushing towards the criminals. “Surrender now or I’ll shoot!” Shisui shouted, coming to a stop.

Just as he did so, however, an explosion went off behind him and threw him from his feet. Shisui staggered forward. Red-orange light from the explosion painted the walls briefly in their sunset glow before the flame subsided and he was left without color again and a ringing in his ears. Dazed and frustrated, Shisui lifted his gun and fired several more rounds.

He stumbled towards the crashed car for what felt like ages. When he’d finally reached it, the older man was gone, but the teen was sitting upright against the side of the car. Shisui pointed his gun at him and the kid slowly raised one hand. The other one was pressed against his shoulder, where Shisui could see blood was seeping. The wound on his leg was tied over with a tie, but the teen wore a t-shirt and even at a glance Shisui could tell the tie wasn’t his.

A hand on Shisui’s shoulder startled him and he looked up to see his partner, Takeshi Hashimoto, standing beside him. His voice was distant as he spoke to Shisui, but he could read Takeshi’s lips well enough. “I’m fine,” He said in reply to the questioning, “Just a little ringing in the ears, I’m fine.”

Takeshi nodded and then knelt beside the kid. He radioed in for an ambulance, though Shisui only heard the scratching of the radio and fuzziness that could be voices. Putting his gun back in its sheath, he sighed and leaned against the crashed car. “Fuck…” He whispered, rubbing his face with one hand. “What the fuck…”

Investigating oddly flickering lights in reportedly empty warehouses wasn’t supposed to go like this.

 

* * *

 

**_Six PM_ **

 

The smell of the hospital, of sterilized equipment and bleach cleaned floors, was almost comforting with how familiar it was to Shisui. He sat on a bed in the same room as the criminal kid, known only as Takeshi. The teen had been lucky, the bullet in his leg and his shoulder were only flesh wounds and were stitched up without too much difficulty.

He had grinned, boasting that he’d be getting two new scars out of the injuries, and laughed off the pain medicine that the doctors had tried to give to him. He was handcuffed to his bed, but didn’t act like any caught criminal that Shisui had met before.

Two guards were on duty over the room while Shisui waited to be properly discharged and for permission to escort Takeshi from his hospital bed to the one waiting for him in the holding cell downtown. Antsy, he got to his feet and went to the door. Waiting outside were officers that were only a little familiar to him. Not only that, they looked similar to each other, with their eyes sly as a fox’s.

Shisui paused. How similar the two of them looked! He smiled, wondering if they could possibly be related, even twins! Looking over their nameplates, the only thing that stuck with Shisui was that they had the same last names: Matsumoto. As he passed, the pair of them reached for his arms in unison.  “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving the hospital,” he said, brushing off their hands. “I know another patient here and I’d like to visit him if I could. I’ll be back before you know it!”

The two of them exchanged a look that made Shisui smile. They definitely had to be related, possibly even twins with such a similarity between them. Stepping back simultaneously, the woman waved Shisui off and said, “Go ahead, Uchiha-san. We’ll page you if you’re needed.”

Shisui smiled and walked down the hallway. The pathway to the elevator was familiar to him and once he reached the proper wing, a nurse there recognized him.

“Shisui-san,” She bowed her head slightly to him, “You’ve got good timing as always. I was just about to go take this snack to Itachi-san. Do you want to do that for me?” She offered him a tray with a covered plate. Shisui took it and smiled.

“I’d be happy to.” He held the tray carefully, his fingers still aching from the near miss with the baseball bat. He was grateful that he’d been left in his uniform, instead of being dressed in hospital garb. There was no reason to worry Itachi, after all. He had enough to tend to all on his own.

Shisui knocked on the door and then pushed it open slowly, “Ita-chan,” he whispered into the dimly lit room, “I’ve brought you a snack!”

There was a rustling of cloth that answered him and the lamp beside the hospital bed grew brighter as Itachi turned the dial on it up. He sat up, weakly smiling at Shisui. “You’re early. Usually you bring me dinner.”

Shisui set the tray up over Itachi’s lap and then sat on the bed himself. “Hey kiddo. How are you feeling today?”

Itachi carefully uncovered the tray, setting aside the lid. On the plate were prepared fruit slices and some milk. He picked at an apple slice and smiled again, “They said I’m strong enough for some Chemo tomorrow. I’ve been eating better too.” The apple snapped with a crisp crack when Itachi bit into it. The rind of the apple was a bright red and glossy in the lamplight.

“You got good poop measurements?” Shisui teased.

Itachi laughed. “Yes. So they say.” He ate slowly, but steadily. “They say that this is when my hair will really start falling out…” The smile he gave was a sad one and he did nothing to hide that same motion in his eyes. “Just in time for some warmer weather, huh? I won’t have to worry about putting it up this summer.”

Shisui grinned, but the expression barely touched his eyes. “When winter comes around, I’ll make sure Baa-san knits you warm hats to wear. Some that have little flaps that cover your ears and a floofy little ball on top. What do you say? Sounds good?”

“...yeah.” Itachi nodded. “When winter comes.” His hands stopped as he stared down at his plate.

Reaching out towards him, Shisui put his hand over Itachi’s. “Hey now. I know what you’re thinking. I can see it all over your face. Don’t you dare start doubting yourself, Itachi,” He squeezed his hand tightly, “You survived this once before, you can do it again. I’ll be with you every step of the way, I promise I will.”

Itachi turned his hand and gripped Shisui’s tightly. “I know. I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes tightly and bowed his head. “I don’t know what I’ll get you for Christmas. Being in here doesn’t give me much opportunity to go shopping for you.”

“I know what you can give me,” Shisui said with a chuckle, “I’ll hang up some mistletoe and you can kiss your favorite cousin on the cheek for Christmas.”

Itachi’s head jerked up, his cheeks red with embarrassment. His eyes still held the sheen of tears from before. “Shisui,” He turned redder as he spoke, “What are you saying?”

“I know, I know. That’s more like what I should give you for Christmas, isn’t it?” Shisui laughed. He winked at Itachi, “A little kiss on the cheek from me to you would be just the thing, wouldn’t it?”

Itachi covered his face with both his hands while Shisui leaned back and laughed. “I’m sorry for teasing you so, Ita-chan, but you make it too easy to do! Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we can exchange real gifts. You won’t be forced to suffer a kiss from me.”

Sitting with his hands over his face still, Itachi’s next words were muffled. “Teasing a sick person. You have hit a new low, Shisui.” He slowly drew his hands down, but his cheeks were still pink and his ears still crimson. “Does your depravity know no bounds?”

“C’mon now,” Shisui said, gesturing offhandedly with one hand, “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when you were eight. And those weren’t kisses on the cheek, either.”

“Oh my god,” Itachi’s face went scarlet, and this time the flush ran down his neck as well. He lay back in his bed and covered his head with his blue blanket as Shisui laughed again. “You are a terrible monster,” he said from under the blanket, his bone white hands clutching at the sky colored fabric. “I’m going to die from embarrassment before I can die of cancer.”

“So dramatic, little cousin,” Shisui said playfully. He picked up a piece of apple and bit down. He closed his eyes, chewing and enjoying the juiciness of the fruit. “Don’t worry. I know you and your strict morals. Only the most familial of affection will pass from me to you, sweet little cousin, even on that holiday and under that romantic little plant.” He pat Itachi’s knee through the blanket. “I will not be the one to tarnish your virtuous body.”

Slowly, Itachi lowered his blanket from over his head. He watched Shisui with narrowed eyes, but eventually huffed out a breath in annoyance and sat up again. Picking up his cup, he muttered, “You’re a scoundrel, Shisui.”

About to respond, Shisui stopped when his ear caught an unusual sound.

 _“Paging Shisui Uchiha to floor two. Paging Shisui Uchiha to floor two.”_  The disembodied female voice was clearly heard in the room that Itachi occupied.

He looked at Shisui with surprise, "You never did say why you were here so early.”

“Had a criminal get injured,” Shisui said, hopping off the bed and hoping Itachi would be satisfied with half-truths. “I accompanied him to the hospital, since, after all, you’re here too.” He came up to Itachi’s side and cupped his cheek in one hand. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit again today, but I’ll come see you tomorrow for sure.” He leaned in and kissed his cousin’s temple gently. “Don’t forget to finish your milk. It’ll help strengthen your bones.”

Itachi laughed somewhat bitterly at that, his cheeks pink as he waved Shisui off. “Go along, Mr. Officer. Go keep the city safe from those bad guys.”

Shisui waved back as he stepped out of the room. He felt good enough to give a smile to the nurses he passed on his way to the elevator. Soon he was back onto floor two and walking to the center station. As he reached it, he was surprised to see Takeshi and Obito, as well as Kakashi loitering behind Obito, waiting for him there. “You paged?” One look at their expressions told him something was wrong, “What happened?”

Obito grabbed him by the arm and led him to the room that he’d been in before. The two officers were no longer there and as he was brought into the room, he saw that the criminal Takeshi wasn’t there either. Obito shut the door behind them, so they were alone in the room. “Where the fuck were you? What the fuck were you doing?” Obito demanded, his voice low and intense. “Someone just walked in here right under your nose, got rid of those two officers, and fucking walked out with that kid before we could even properly process him!”

Still holding Shisui by the arm, Obito grabbed his shoulder with his other hand and shook him, “What was so damn important that you left the room? We knew nothing about the guy except his name and that he got shot twice, by you, and then you just let him walk out of here? _Where the fuck were you when this happened?_ ”

Shisui bit his tongue. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He counted to ten and when he was finally calm enough, he reached up and pulled Obito’s hands off of his arm and his shoulder. “I was getting antsy so I took a walk around the building. I wasn’t discharged yet and the kid was peaceful and handcuffed. How was I to expect he would try to escape?”

“Try?” Obito hissed, “You mean succeed! We’ll be pulling the feed to see exactly what the fuck he did to get himself out of here, past the guards and the nurses, and you better hope that it proves that you couldn’t have done anything to stop him either way or else you could be in some deep shit, Shisui.”

He couldn’t help it. Shisui laughed. He laughed in Obito’s face and then turned to brace himself on the wall and laugh some more. “You know what?” He finally said when he could talk again, “Even if he was able to walk through the fucking wall, I think I’d still be in deep shit, as so you so eloquently put it, Sargeant. Someone higher up the chain would still think I should have been able to stop him just because my fucking name is Uchiha.” He spat out the last word like it was a curse, making Obito reel back in surprise.

“Shisui-” He was interrupted as the door opened. Kakashi stood there, an older nurse standing just behind him.

With a voice slightly muffled behind his courtesy mask, Kakashi spoke, “Boss. She saw the officers leave.”

 

* * *

 

**_Eight PM_ **

 

The files were open before him. Shisui hummed under his breath as he flipped back a few pages, checking the detail over as he wrote his report on the last page. He purposefully ignored the occasional stares he got from around the room as word spread of the day’s events.

A half eaten box of takeout was perched on one of the larger stacks of files and, from time to time, Shisui would take another mouthful, chew it thoughtfully, and review his work. Eventually, Takeshi sat down in the desk across from his and sighed. He pushed up his glasses and rubbed at his eyes and the bridge of his nose.

“So?” Shisui asked, “What’s the verdict?”

“Our new friend knows some skilled people.” Takeshi said. “We haven’t gotten our hands on the tapes yet, but this is what we have so far. No one signed in anyone to specifically pick up the kid, so it has to be someone who didn’t look out of place there. It doesn’t look like the two officers on duty were drugged and carried off, though, as the nurses report that they walked away of their own free will without any apparent distress.” Here, Takeshi shook his head. “That’s another thing, those two officers? No one’s seen them since. We’re trying to figure out who they are. Do you remember their names by any chance?”

“You know how I am with names, Takeshi,” Shisui shrugged, scratching at the back of his head, “I do remember they had the same last name. Matsuo or something? Hatsuomoto? I don’t recall.”

Takeshi sighed heavily. “How about how they looked like? You’re good with faces. Do you remember what they looked like?”

“They were incredibly similar to each other. They’re twins, if I had to guess. And their eyes…” He stopped suddenly. He tapped his pen on the file he had open on his desk. The purple of their eyes flashed across his memory. He gave a little half-smile, the corner of his lip pulling up and said, “they had sly eyes. They looked like they were fox eyes.”

Leaning forward, Takeshi dropped his voice to a lower whisper. “Any color?”

“Funnily enough, yes,” Shisui laughed softly. “Purple. Damn bright purple too. How strange is that?”

“Huh,” Takeshi leaned back in his chair. He shrugged his shoulders, “Must be strange people to give off a purple vibe. We can go through the service records, look for lookalikes or possible siblings with purple eyes, but I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”

“They’re on the cameras, right?” Shisui asked, closing the report he had just finished. He put it into the ‘Done’ pile, moving the take out to do so. “We can check those as well as the service records. But I understand what you mean. There’s bound to be more than one Uchiha who’s claimed purple eyes.”

“And plenty of others who want to be considered special.” Takeshi gave a smile as he shared the joke with Shisui. “We’ve all got to find what makes us stand apart from the hordes of Uchiha around us.”

Shisui laughed. “So we’ll get the tapes and check them out. Anything else?”

Takeshi looked at the page on the top of the folder and tossed it over to Shisui’s desk. “Our orders are to find the cops who left their post, find the kid who got spirited away, and find the guy who tried to blow you up.”

“In that order?” Shisui fanned open the folder and found it had only three pages in it. “...And only with this to start with?”

“Of course. Would an order from our sergeant come any other way?”

 

* * *

 

**_Nine PM_ **

 

Sweat dripped down his back, dampened the dark hair at his temples and slid down the insides of his legs. Sweat beaded on his arms, shone on his legs and soaked the clothing that he wore. Shisui ran in place on the treadmill, his ears filled with heavy bass music and catchy, cute chorus sung over it. He stared straight ahead as he ran, one of the few people working out in the gym that evening.

He didn’t mean to, but he kept watching someone else. He wouldn’t have watched them if they weren’t right in front of him, but they were. In an area of the room sectioned off for exercise that didn’t involve the machines, a man moved from one flexible pose to the next. His posture was excellent, his body toned, and his brown hair looked so soft that Shisui ran as though he were trying to get over there and touch it.

Blinking, Shisui reached up to wipe his hand across his brow and then glanced down to check his distance. When he looked back up, the man’s newest yoga position, for Shisui was sure that he was doing yoga, made him look back at Shisui.

Shisui felt his heart skip in his chest and his breathing hitched in his throat. For a moment, he was sure he saw brilliant blue eyes looking back at him, but they closed and he just far away enough for Shisui to be sure. Still, he stumbled enough that he had to hop to the side of the treadmill to keep from falling. Catching his breath, Shisui shook his head, ashamed of his oogling. He turned off the machine. Enough was enough, he was going to finish his exercise on the bike ride home.

Wiping his face with a towel, Shisui headed across the floor towards the locker room. As he passed the man, he couldn’t help but glance over, wondering if he’d see those blue eyes again. Instead, he saw the man standing, looking at him and miming a strange motion, as though he were plucking something from his ears.

Shisui stopped and pulled an earbud from his ear. “Yes?”

“Hey,” the man spoke Japanese clearly, but with a strange accent. “You look very tense. Your running is only going to wind you up more. Why not try some yoga with me?” He gestured to the floor beside himself, “Come on. I will show you how. I’ll show you beginner moves, I promise.”

He smiled and his eyes, blue as the sky, blue as sapphires, blue and brilliant and glittering, crinkled with his smile. His emotions of kindness were genuine.

Shisui gave in without a second thought. “My name is Shisui.”

The man held out his hand, “Basil.”

Basil, Shisui learned, was confident, kind, and had a firm hand. He helped Shisui with his posture by physically moving his arms or legs to get them into the right placement and softly counted the seconds as they held their positions. Shisui found the exercise to be as mind clearing as running, focusing so much on where his body physically was that he couldn’t even begin to think about anything else. Yet, like Basil had said, he felt his muscles relaxing as they were stretched instead of the exhausted burn of running.

Sooner than Shisui liked, the exercise came to an end. Basil was again looking at him with a smile that lit up his whole face and crinkled his eyes. “You’re a fast learner, but you could definitely work on your flexibility more. You seem very stiff still.”

Shisui couldn’t help himself, he gave a flirtatious smirk in reply and arched an eyebrow, “Don’t count me out yet. I’m more flexible in intimate positions.”

Basil’s surprised laughter was almost as charming as the light pink blush to his cheeks. He responded positively to Shisui’s flirting, leaning in slightly and lowering his voice to an intimate level, “I’d love to take your word for it, Shisui, but I’m more of a see it to believe it kind of guy.”

“Oh really? I’ll have to take you up on that some time,” Shisui ran a hand through his hair and when it came back damp he laughed, “But I think it’s time I cleaned up and went home…”

Nodding, Basil walked with him towards the locker room. “I’m usually here this time of night to work out. Maybe we’ll see each other again?”

“Definitely,” Shisui said.

 

* * *

 

 

**_Eleven PM_ **

 

Baa-san sat alone in the kitchen when Shisui stepped into the house and took off his shoes. He stopped at the kitchen doorway for a moment, looking at the elderly woman who sipped at her tea and turned the page of her book slowly. Her eyes seemed to be shut, though the flicker of her eyelids was enough for Shisui to be able to tell she was reading. He watched her quietly, smiling a little at the sight of her faded green sweater and the small blue flowers stitched into the collar of the cloth.

“Do you need something, boy?” She finally asked, without looking up from her book.

“No, Baa-san.” He replied, stepping into the room. “Just dropping off my dishes.” He pulled the container for his lunch out of his bag and put it beside the sink. “Lunch was very good, thank you.”

As he passed her on his way back to the door, Baa-san looked up. “Goodnight, Shisui.”

He stopped at the doorway, pausing with his hand on the wood and a smile over his shoulder. “Get some sleep for once, Baa-san. See you in the morning.”

She waved her hand dismissively at him and Shisui went on up the stairs to the second floor. He passed one of the other tenants, a college kid by the looks of him, who had his shirt on inside out and an organic chemistry book obscuring most of his face. Shisui stepped to the side so he wouldn’t run into the kid and gave a rueful smile. The student had a headlamp strapped onto his head, giving off an eerie, partially blue light as he read and walked from the bathroom to his room.

Shisui unlocked his bedroom door and stepped inside. It was dark inside, but for the slight silver glow of the moon through the windows at the top of the wall. Through the wall on the right he could hear the muffled conversation and squeak of a computer chair, on the other side of his room, there was soft snoring to be heard.

Locking his bedroom behind himself, Shisui stripped out of his post-workout clothes in the near dark. He turned on the lamp briefly, to clean his gun and put it into its case. Then he went back to the dark, moving by memory and moonlight until his bed was laid out on the floor once more and he was beneath the covers.

Shisui lay under the covers, staring at the wall, with one arm under his head and pillow. His body ached; his muscles from working and working out, his eyes from being awake for so long and his bones ached down to the marrow. As he lay there, the day played back in his head, lingering on the red clip and the blue sky. His breath was hitching in his chest when he remembered the red of Itachi’s embarrassed face, the color of the baby blue sheets he had on his bed and bright red of his snack.

Color was always brightest around Itachi and Shisui was afraid, so very afraid, of the colors he would lose forever, once Itachi died. It didn’t matter what promises he made, what words he said, what medicine the doctors gave him or treatments they did to him… Shisui’s gut twisted itself into knots but it only made him more sure. There was no way Itachi could make it to Christmas.

Closing his eyes, he willed the buildup of tears to go back and curled up tighter on himself. Hunched under the blanket like a child hiding away from monsters in the closet, Shisui slept at last.

 


	2. Learn your Shapes and Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pre-investigation investigation continues! 
> 
> Shisui and his partner discuss mysterious twins, round shapes and camera footage before taking their questions around town. They ask their questions, get a hunch on a good idea and make plans for the future. Visiting Itachi, Shisui imparts some gentle words and comfort to his ailing cousin. As he returns home, a curious sight brings him out of his thoughts and into the world again. Shisui's curious nature gets the better of him once again.

The next day, Takeshi met Shisui at his desk shortly after they signed in to take over the previous shift. Shisui leaned back in his chair, twirling his pen in his hand as Takeshi rummaged through his folders. “I know I’ve got the disk around here somewhere. It’s in the evidence bag and every- oh here it is.” He pulled out a plastic bag, sealed with tape and with a disk inside. “I know we’ve still got to go out on a patrol today, but I figured we could start with the security feed from yesterday’s hospital escape. If we can get some imagery of the face, we’ll be able to do a little more pointed searching. What do you think?”

Shisui shrugged a shoulder. “Makes sense to me.” He sat forward, absently drawing a circle doodle on the side of his scratch paper notepad. The not-quite-black lines ran smoothly over the not-quite-white sheet. “Did you reserve one of the tech rooms last night?”

“Eh? Oh. Shit.” Takeshi got to his feet in a rush. “I’ll go check right now!” He left the CD behind as he hurried over to the far wall. Shisui idly watched him weave his way through the desks and then leave the room to go to the hallway beyond. He continued to doodle for a while before setting down his pen and reaching across his desk to Takeshi’s and picking up the CD.

He checked the names listed on the front. They were the written chain of custody since the evidence entered the police hands. Obito’s was the first one on there, with Takeshi’s the only one underneath to show that the item was under his care currently. However, what caught Shisui’s attention was the name at the top left corner of the label. A small box was there, with the label of _presiding officer_ . Inside of that box was written  _F. Uchiha_ .

Shisui set down the bag for a moment. While he tried to think of the reasons why his uncle would want to pay special attention to some punk they lost at a hospital, his pen scratched out mindless words on the pad he’d been doodling on.

A shout brought him out of his thought. “Shisui, come on!” From across the room, and garnering more than a few annoyed looks, Takeshi was waving to catch his attention. Shisui grinned at his antics and scooped up the CD again. He ripped off the paper from the pad that he’d scribbled on and took the new pad with him to take notes on. Hurrying across the room, he didn’t notice the paper wafting off his desk and onto the floor.

 

* * *

 

The hallway behind the main office area lead off to the interrogation rooms and into the A/V tech rooms. Most of them were filled already, with other officers hoping to get a jumpstart on their work for the day. Shisui followed Takeshi into the fifth room and closed the door behind himself. “Here Takeshi. You’re the one who should be opening this bag.”

“Thanks.” Takeshi took the CD, he tore open the tape and gingerly took out the disk. “Thank goodness it’s not a six hour feed, right?” He laughed as he opened the disc drive and placed the CD inside. Pushing it in, Takeshi pulled open the player on the computer and waited for it to finish reading the disc.

“I would have brought snacks, if it were,” Shisui said, getting comfortable in the chair next to Takeshi’s. “What cameras are there for us to look at?”

“Quite a few actually. The nurse’s station, the hallway to the room, the front lobby and the front door.” The file on the CD popped open on the desktop and Takeshi picked out the first one. “I figure we can watch the hallway to the room, check to see what time he actually gets out of there and that way narrow down the window for the rest of the security feed we got.”

“Sounds good,” Shisui said, “You’ve really thought this through. I’m impressed!”

Takeshi rubbed the back of his head. “Really? Thanks!”

“You’re still aiming to get detective, aren’t you?” Shisui said, splitting his attention between the conversation and the screen.

“Not all of us are happy stuck being a plain old officer for their whole life,” Takeshi said, “Besides, when I get married to Hiroko, we want to be able to have a house and a kid. Detectives get a much better pay than officers.”

“Yeah, they sure do,” Shisui said. “I’ve told you before, it’s not going to be easy to get detective, but I’m happy to help you.”

“You should try to become one with me,” Takeshi reached over and squeezed Shisui’s shoulder. “Imagine, the two of us becoming detectives together! No more beat cop for us. We’ll be able to solve the mysteries of the world!”

Shisui couldn’t help it. He laughed, “I tell you what, Takeshi. You make detective first and then I will join you. I’ll probably have to anyway. I went through about seven partners before you got stuck with me. They’ll just do that all over again once you move up.”

“Which is why you should take the test with me!” Takeshi said. Suddenly, he reached out and hit the spacebar on the computer, silent and staring. “Look!”

Shisui, startled by the sudden movement, sat up in his chair. He looked at the screen and his mouth dropped open. “How is that… Is that even possible?”

Takeshi turned the play back to half speed, went back several minutes and pressed play again. They watched the screen in silence. As they watched, the officers standing in front of the hospital room watched a doctor walk past. Within moments they turned to look at each other. From that angle, the woman’s face was perfectly visible by the camera. Except it wasn’t her face at all, it was the face of the doctor that had walked past them. The seconds stretched on and they watched as the two fake officers, for they had to be fake, Shisui didn’t know a single one that could manipulate their aura in such a way, laughed at each other and switched their faces back to normal.

The more Shisui looked at them, though, the more he had to believe that even that ‘normal’ face was an illusion. He reached over and paused the disc again. Holding up a page from his notepad, he covered up the right side of the woman’s face and then the left side. Sitting back, he whispered, “Her face is completely identical on both sides. Look at that, look at it Takeshi. She’s got a completely symmetrical face.”

“This is unbelievable…” Takeshi whispered. “Who were these two? Where did they come from?”

“They were… they were officers outside the hospital.” Shisui said, remembering the previous afternoon. “Just standing around on their break by a patrol car when we pulled up. I figured they were on a patrol… The kid wasn’t really hurt but I didn’t want him getting away so of course we enlisted their help but…”

“Do you think they were waiting for us?”

There was a long pause of silence before Shisui answered, “Lets put it at regular speed again and watch for the escape. I think we’ll know for sure when that happens. Either they’ll try to stop him from going or they’ll help him. Then we’ll know.”

Takeshi nodded. He returned the playback to regular speed and let it go again. They watched, no longer joking, no longer talking, and waited.

Their patience paid off. They watched as the Shisui on tape stepped out of the hospital room and spoke to them before getting away. Shisui shivered when he saw them wearing his face for a brief time. Just about the time his back began hurting from how tensely he sat, Shisui whispered, “There. Look.”

The pseudo-police looked down the hall almost in perfect unison. They smiled. Moments later, the camera caught who they were looking at. “What the…” Takeshi breathed out in wonder. Across the screen, walking down the hall at a steady state, was a fuzzy oval. There was a general shape that could be seen through the fuzziness of the oval. Dark at the top, lighter in the middle and dark again at the very bottom, they could tell, at least, that whoever it was had dark hair, light colored clothing and dark shoes. They couldn’t even be sure about the height.

As soon as this person got within several feet of the two pseudo-police, they stepped away from the wall and bowed. The man handed over what could only be keys to the suspect’s handcuffs, and walked down the hallway. The last shot of them was the removal of the top of their uniforms to reveal a plain button down shirt beneath. Then they were out of shot again.

The blurry oval stepped into the room and within moments was stepping out again, this time with the kid in tow. There was a second, as he turned to close the door, that his face was visible, but then he stepped close to the oval and was obscured as well. The oval walked down the hallway, with the two of them obscured from camera view, as though someone had doctored the images.

When they finally stepped out of sight, Takeshi paused the film again. It took a moment before he could think properly, but he eventually wrote the timestamp for when they had stepped out of sight.

“What the fuck…” Shisui said. “What was that?”

“There’s got to be more on the rest of the film.” Takeshi said. He moved quickly, as though a fire had been lit inside of him. He was right, there was more on the rest of the film.

They reviewed the security footage carefully, simply watching on the first time and then taking notes on a second viewing. On the third time, they narrated the actions out slowly, following the full timeline.

“Here, Oval comes out of the staff room. They must have been dressed as a nurse or a doctor to not raise suspicion.” Takeshi pointed with a pen in his hand, “Look, they even took a clipboard right off the counter. We’ll need to talk to these nurses to see if anyone can remember Oval’s identity.”

“And here, look, Oval puts aside a couple of coats for the fake officers. They pick them right up and put them on and no one even has a clue. This is amazing. They can change their faces so well they actually look like medical staff.” Shisui felt himself smiling. He couldn’t help it. Ever since he had been young, spy movies and secret organizations had given him such a thrill. “Who are these people?”

“It’s no surprise they got that kid out so easily…” Takeshi sighed. “But we’ve still got to find him and interrogate him about the warehouse. And find that other guy. They scorched everything inside too badly to really tell what was going on in there.” He looked down at his notes, reviewing them again. “This is something else, Shisui. I mean, it really is. I had no idea that civilians had this kind of aura ability. The strength that it takes to maintain a disrupting aura this long and this well? Even with another person stepping into the area, the effect doesn’t change at all.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get something reliable from the nurses there at the station.” Shisui said, “but honestly, the terrifying part are those two. They must be twins. They used the same last name, which could have been a con, but the fact that they had the same ability?” He paused, shaking his head, “I mean, I hope to god they’re at least related. Otherwise we’ve got nothing on them that we’re sure about.”

Takeshi rubbed at his face, sighing heavily. “Where do we even go from here?”

Shisui leaned back as well, watching the screen. It was playing through the lobby recording, where the supposed twins, having abandoned both the police uniform and the doctor’s coat for dark jackets and pants, were walking out unobstructed. Not five minutes later, there was the kid, smiling, hand in one pocket, phone in the other hand, walking out without a problem.

“Let’s get a print out of that kid. He’s young and athletic. He’s got to be in a highschool club. If nothing else, we can find out what schools he doesn’t go to.” Shisui paused the frame on the boy as he stepped into the main section of the lobby. “We can start there.”

Takeshi nodded, lifting up his fist. “To our good luck.” Shisui tapped his fist to Takeshi’s and returned with a smile.

 

* * *

 

The afternoon was breezy when Shisui and Takeshi stepped onto the Namimori High campus. Shisui couldn’t help the smile that tugged on his lips as he looked over the grounds and saw the deep green of the grass and bushes that broke up the greyish white of the concrete ground. As they walked past one of the flowering bushes, Shisui nearly stopped to pick one of the small pink flowers that he found budding there. “I really like schools,” he said idly as they walked towards the main doors towards the staff offices.

Takeshi glanced to him. “Yeah? I bet you were one of the popular kids, Shisui. Were you in any clubs?”

Shisui laughed, “Which club wasn’t I in? I tell you I- Well hello there.” He stopped, one hand on his hip, and smiled at the student who stood in front of them. She had her arms folded tightly across her chest and a firm expression on her face. On her shoulder was an armband with the words  _Disciplinary Committee_ embroidered on them. The band itself was a bright red and gold, which made Shisui just smile more.

“Is there some way that I can assist you, officers?” She looked from one to the other, her ponytail swishing behind her head.

“Why yes, actually,” Takeshi stepped forward. “I’m Officer Matsuo and this is Officer Uchiha. We’re looking for a student and were wondering if you could help us out.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded paper that was the blown up image of the young man they knew only as Takeshi. “Do you know this young man?”

The girl took the paper gingerly in one hand and looked at it. Shisui watched as her brows rose in surprise and then she quickly collected her expression again. She handed back the page and asked, “Why are you looking for him? Is he in trouble?”

Takeshi folded the paper and put it away while Shisui answered her question. “He’s not in trouble with the police, but we think he’s gotten himself into something over his head. You see, we found him with a strange older man in an old warehouse. We think that this older man is the one who is getting him into some criminal behavior. There was an explosion there and he got hurt.”

Shisui’s smile finally dropped when the girl’s eyes widened with shock and worry. He reached out and gently pat her shoulder once. “It looks like you understand how serious we are, young lady.”

“I’m sorry officers,” The girl said suddenly, giving a slight bow. “But I don’t think I can help you with this. This young man doesn’t go to this school.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely.” She nodded her head firmly. “I’m a senior here and I’ve been in the Disciplinary Committee for two years. I don’t recognize this boy at all.”

Shisui took out his notepad, “You say you don’t recognize him at all? What was your name again?”

The girl blinked once and then said “Haru. Miura Haru.” She bowed again. “I’m sorry that I can’t help you with your search for this man. Is there anything else I can do?”

“Why not lead us to the main offices? We’d like to speak to any teachers that are still here.”

Nodding slightly, she turned, “Most of the teachers are gone already. The advisor for my committee is still here, however, if you would like to speak to him.”

“Please, lead us to him.” Takeshi smiled.

She led them into the building. It really was empty, which was a surprise because it was barely an hour after school. Shisui looked for signs of any clubs in action, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. Miura led them up some stairs and down another hallway before taking them up to a door. She knocked and a voice called from within, “Who is it?”

“It’s Haru Miura, sir.” Miura called through the door. A few moments later, the door opened. A man stood in the doorway, his hair combed into a little pompadour that stood out against how well he was dressed. “I encountered these two officers while on my afterschool rounds, sir.”

“Please come in,” He gestured, stepping out of the way. “Miura, thank you for your diligence. You may continue your rounds.” The girl bowed deeply and left before either Shisui or Takeshi could object.

They stepped into the office. It was well furnished and had an open layout with a meeting table at the far west side and a desk on the east side, where they had entered. A couple of couches were against the walls, with a few bookcases forming half walls and serving as dividers of space in the room. Shisui glanced around and frowned slightly. A greyness permeated the room and dampened his spirits.

“My name is Ogawa Tatsuya. I’m the advisor of the disciplinary committee as well as a history teacher here.” He gestured to a couch, “Please, have a seat.” He himself took a seat in an armchair.

Takeshi introduced them, giving Ogawa a respectful bow as he did. Shisui mimicked the behavior, but his attention was on the color- or lack thereof- of the room.

The officers sat down on the couch, Shisui absently ran his hand over the arm of the chair, glancing down at it. The deep brown was almost black, in fact, he had assumed it was black when he’d been standing in the doorway. He paused, looking around the room again. There was a lightness to the grey, and the dark accents of the room- the couches, rug, table, desk- weren’t the black he had assumed them to be. It was this revelation that made Shisui turn to Ogawa and ask, “This room is designed to appear black and white, isn’t it?”

Ogawa blinked in shock, but nodded. “Why yes, actually. I’m surprised you noticed. The design was done by a previous leader of the committee and we haven’t had the need to change it since then.”

Shisui ran his hand across the brown of the couch again. There were hidden colors all over the room. The wood of the coffee table was red-brown and the rug on the floor was a navy blue. He did catch a glimpse of true color, though, and that was the red and gold band on Ogawa’s arm. He’d missed it in his first look of the room, since he had been so overwhelmed by the silver-grey pattern of the walls.

Takeshi cleared his throat, taking out the page and filling the silence that came from Shisui’s observance of the room and Ogawa’s observance of them. He held out the picture. “This is the young man that we spoke to Miura-san about. We think he’s gotten himself into deeper trouble than he realizes. He’s hurt and in need of medical aid and we’ve been trying to locate him since yesterday.”

“Miura-san claimed that he wasn’t a student here.” Shisui said, “She said she did not recognize him at all.”

Ogawa nodded. He held the page of the boy for a while, looking at it thoughtfully. “He does seem familiar… But I have seen a lot of young men grow up and graduate since I started working here…”

“He’s athletic.” Shisui added, “When we found him, he was using a baseball bat as a weapon and was a quick runner. Are you sure he didn’t go to this school?”

“Oh, that actually rings a bell.” Ogawa handed back the page and stood up. He went to one of the bookshelves and thumbed through the spines. He eventually picked one out and brought it over. Flipping through the pages, he opened it up to the pictures in the back where the club photos were placed. “This boy looks an awful lot like the one in your picture there. He was a student here several years ago. His name was Yamamoto Takeshi and he was a baseball star.”

He handed over the book, pointing out the picture of Yamamoto. “Miura wouldn’t remember him. She was a shy girl when she first got here and didn’t have any interest in the sports.”

“Yamamoto Takeshi…” Shisui murmured, writing the name down in his notebook. “Is there anything else that you remember about him?”

“No, not really. He wasn’t a troublemaker so I never saw much of him and he didn’t join the committee at any point. However, I do know that he stopped coming to school about seven months before he was going to graduate. Rather, we had the holiday break and he didn’t come back to school after that. That was the only thing that he did to break the rules.”

“He just dropped out suddenly? How long ago was that?”

“Well, that’s his last picture with the club, but he wasn’t officially a member then. That’s why his name isn’t under there. He was popular in his club, so he came back to advise them from time to time. I haven’t seen him lately though.” Ogawa held out his hand, taking the book back from Takeshi. “I don’t know much about the boy, unfortunately, and I can’t access his records without the presence of another teacher. For security reasons.”

Shisui nodded, writing notes down on his notepad. He shifted in his seat, getting Takeshi’s attention. Once he knew he had it, he wrote _We’ll come back tomorrow to speak with the baseball team_. Takeshi took the lead then and nodded to Ogawa. “Thank you for this information, Ogawa-san. You’ve been very helpful.”

Ogawa smiled, standing. He intended to only put the book back, but Shisui and Takeshi stood as well. “Oh. Is that all you need to know?”

“We’ve got to get going, there are other persons of interest we’re investigating.” Shisui said, “I apologize for interrupting your afternoon.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” Ogawa said, shaking Takeshi’s hand after Shisui’s. “Do you need help getting out?”

“Its just down the stairs and to the left, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then I’m sure we’ll be fine. Thank you again.” They stepped out of the room, leaving Ogawa standing with the yearbook tucked in his arm. A moment after the door had shut, it opened again.

Ogawa sat down, putting the book on the coffee table. “You didn’t follow them out, Watanabe-san?”

Youko Watanabe, who had introduced herself as Haru Miura just minutes before, shook her head. “They were in a hurry to get out of here. What did you tell them Ogawa-san? Did you tell them about Takeshi-senpai?”

“Yes I did.”

“What!?” She shouted, “How could you! They’re Uchiha!”

Ogawa waved his hand at her. “Calm down, Watanabe. Calm down. What have I told you about people in an organization? Not everyone is exactly like the leader, no matter how loyal they are. It’s true for the Disciplinary Committee and it’s true for the Uchiha Clan.”

“Ugh. But that man was so Uchiha it hurt. Did you see his cheekbones Ogawa-san? Did you see them? You would cut your lip kissing those cheekbones!” She narrowed her eyes, huffing in disgust.

Ogawa laughed. “Maybe, but he worked well with that other man, Officer Matsuo, and he was not an Uchiha. Not with those freckles anyway. They worked as a team, not a competitive duo, or even one in charge of the other. I have a good feeling about the two of them.”

Watanabe sat down on the couch, crossing her legs and scowling in annoyance. “Miura-sama wouldn’t have given them any information about Takashi-senpai. She would have lied to protect her friend! It’s not like they’d find Takeshi-senpai any other way! His name is so common, even when you have both parts of it! They would have eventually given up.”

Shaking his head Ogawa replied solemnly, “There you are very much wrong, Watanabe. While Uchiha are different from each other, as any family is, they all hold a core of relentless dedication to their behavior. I’ve taught Uchiha children and this is the case for all of them, of all genders. They have such a tendency to be obsessively driven to their goals it can be frightening.

“Had I sidestepped the man, I believe he would have realized it. He would begin to wonder why I had lied, what was it about Takeshi that even where he went to school had to be hidden?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands together. “We are not a wall to keep people away from Takeshi and Haru, Watanabe, we are a trip wire alarm. Do you understand what that means?”

Sitting silently for a while, Watanabe continued to frown. Soon, though, her mood brightened until she was grinning broadly. She clapped her hands together and said, “Can I be there when you meet with Miura-sama?”

Ogawa laughed, pleased by her understanding and her excitement. “Sure. I’m certain she’ll be happy to see you.”

 

* * *

 

The nurses were talking quietly when Shisui approached. When they caught sight of him, they gave him small smiles. “Hello Shisui,” one said. “It’s good of you to come again.”

Shisui smiled back, “I can hardly stay away.” He held two bouquets of flowers with vases in his arms and held out one of them. “This is for you and the other nurses. I’m grateful for everything you do for Itachi and I.”

One nurse took the flowers gratefully, “Oh thank you.”

The other gave him a sad look, “Hopefully those flowers will help cheer up Itachi-kun too.”

“Bad day?” Shisui asked. “How is he taking the chemo?”

“You know how how he is.” She said, “He’s been pretending to sleep for the last couple of hours, so we haven’t bothered him, but we’re keeping a close eye on his status.”

“Thank you,” Shisui said, “I’ll go try and put him into a better mood. Really, thanks again.” He smiled, but it felt forced to him. Ducking his head, he walked quickly down the hallway. Before his very eyes, the lilacs he held began to drain of color. He looked away from them, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. Letting it out slowly, he came upon Itachi’s door. He knocked a few times and then stepped in.

The room was lit only by the glow of light coming in from the window in the door and from the light that came in through the blinds of the windows on the far side of the room. The sun was setting on the day. Shisui moved quietly through the dim lighting, putting the vase of flowers beside Itachi’s desk and adjusting them. They were mostly purple and light blue, with a few white flowers in there for good measure. Those were the colors Itachi said that he saw the most when he was here.

Itachi’s heart monitor was beeping regularly, with the heart rate of someone who was definitely awake. After setting up the flowers, Shisui stood beside the bed. His eyes had fully adjusted to the dim lighting by then so it was with ease that he reached out and stroked Itachi’s cheek. “Look at you,” he murmured, “Sleeping like an angel.” With a soft chuckle, he leaned in and kissed Itachi’s cheek. “Or at least, pretending to sleep like an angel,” he whispered into Itachi’s ear.

The beeping of the monitor increased and Shisui chuckled. “Want me to turn on the light so we can talk or not?”

There was the sound of shifting cloth and Shisui smiled when he felt Itachi’s cool hand on his cheek. “I just want to sleep. Will you stay with me so I can sleep?”

“Sure. Scoot over a little bit,” Shisui leaned back so Itachi could make space for him. When he went still, Shisui climbed into the bed beside him and lay back against the pillow. Itachi leaned against his side, his thin hand lying on top of Shisui’s chest.

Shisui ran gentle fingers through Itachi’s hair. “Want me to tell you a story to help you sleep?”

“I’m not six anymore,” Itachi whispered. Shisui could hear the frown in his voice. “I don’t need bedtime stories.”

“You’re pretty contentious today, kid,” Shisui whispered, chuckling. “And for your information, getting told a story to help you sleep is completely okay. It’s cool even.”

“Would you ask your date to tell you a story to help you sleep?” Itachi asked.

“That depends on who I was on a date with. In fact, that depends on a lot of variables.” Shisui said. He brushed Itachi’s hair back from his face and smiled. “I’d probably not do it on the first date, simply because I’m not likely to end up in bed with someone on the first night. Maybe after the third or fourth, if things are going all right. But then again, if those are serious dates, or if one of us becomes too drunk, then it wouldn’t fit the mood at all. Also, if they’re more the serious type, they might not think themselves very good at stories, and it’s not right to pressure anyone into anything, even something as benign as storytelling.

“But if you got all the pieces right… A creative person on the third date, perhaps, and after a fun day at the beach or a carnival? And I was snuggled up right next to him,” Shisui dropped the volume of his voice, whispering softly enough to make Itachi have to pay more attention as he spoke. “And we’re both physically tired from the day, but still want to hang out together. Maybe we’re not ready for anything too serious, but I want to see what makes him tick… what kind of stories he likes to tell…

“So as we’re sitting together on his bed, I’ll just lean over and ask… Itachi, will you tell me a story?”

While they were silent after Shisui’s words, the heart monitor was beeping quickly. Shisui glanced up at it and smirked. “One thirty over sixty. That’s a pretty quick pulse there, Ita-chan.”

Itachi’s fist thumped against Shisui’s chest. He had his face bent down and away from Shisui. He didn’t have to see it to know that Itachi’s face was as red as could be. “You bastard,” He whispered. “Don’t pay attention to that machine. It’s wrong. My pulse is fine.”

Shisui laughed softly, he pulled Itachi into a tight hug, laughing more when Itachi tried to hit him again. Settling quickly, Itachi huffed softly. His heart rate lowered, slowly, to a more typical rate. Letting him go again, Shisui cupped Itachi’s cheek. In the darkness, he could feel the warmth of the blush. Shisui almost preferred the near dark that they were in. There was no worry about colors when there was so little light the world was only shades of grey and black.

Kissing Itachi’s forehead, Shisui let his lips linger against the smooth skin there before slowly pulling back. “Hey, Itachi.”

“Yeah?” Itachi replied slowly.

“I love you.”

Shisui felt Itachi’s fingers dig into his ribs as the teen gripped his shirt too tightly. His head bowed again and Shisui wasn’t surprised to feel Itachi’s forehead against his collarbone. He smiled and threaded his fingers through that long hair and down Itachi’s neck. He felt, more than heard, Itachi trying to speak.

“Shh,” Shisui whispered, rubbing Itachi’s back. “Don’t force yourself to say anything if you’re not ready, Itachi,” He kissed the top of his head. “It’s okay. It won’t make me love you any less if you don’t feel like you can say it.”

There was a long period of silence before Itachi pulled his head back and asked, “Shisui? Will you tell me a story?”

 

* * *

 

The streets were black, illuminated by white lights that flashed and beamed and blinked overhead as Shisui rode his bicycle slowly through the streets on his way home. It was often like this when he left the hospital. The sky he knew to be midnight blue was black and the long red-brick shadows of the alleyways between the houses were charcoal grey. The neon lights flashed on and off, a blaring declaration of _Open_ and _Vacancy_ and _Now_ and _Here_ and arrows pointing in all directions. These were colored, Shisui knew this as well as he knew that his bike had a color (garish orange and green), and they flashed that color on the faces, walls and windows that he passed slowly.

Yet the world was silver and black. A monochrome of white light spilling out from streetlamps and shaded light casting murky grey that caught on buttons and glasses and car windows and reflected back as white, all white.

He came to a stop at a corner, watching as cars of grey passed under lights of white, not quite white, and a different shade of not quite white. His gaze went back and forth, passing over the people on the far side of the street without much notice. When the walking man lit up across the street and the people began to move around him Shisui remained still for another few seconds.

In that minute of waiting, eyes watching but unseeing, his mind had caught onto a familiar face in an unfamiliar location. Shisui paused, unmoving, as he fought to recall who they were while he watched from across the busy street.

Across the intersection and on the left side of the street a man walked into a restaurant. This alone wasn’t important, but the fact that Shisui recognized both that man and one of the two women he walked in with, well…

Shisui’s purposeless cruise came to a stop near the restaurant. He locked up his bike, put his hands in his pockets and stepped up to the door. The sign above the door said _Take2Sushi_. A small sign to the right of the door welcomed new and old patrons to their new restaurant’s location. Opening the door Shisui stepped inside, wondering why a school teacher would take a highschool student, outside of school hours, and a mysterious woman into a sushi place to eat.


	3. You've Been Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you get when a man in a vest, a princess, a secretary, a not-quite stranger, and a memory walk into a sushi restaurant? One missing stick of dango and a leading conversation.
> 
> What happens when a memory overwhelms the mind and exhaustion loosens the tongue? An unusual conversation and a concerned senior citizen.

Inside, the restaurant was surprisingly roomy and inviting. Dining areas were partitioned from each other by thin wooden walls that each opened up to a main aisle. Shisui was immediately greeted by a lovely hostess in a black dress and white frock. He was tucked into a corner where tables set waiting for just one or two customers. He decided to get comfortable, tucking his feet up under his legs and leaving his bag on the floor in place of his feet. He partially unzipped his jacket, having worn it over his uniform once he left police headquarters and while at the hospital.

The restaurant was warm inside, but there was a bit of a draft where he’d been seated. While he could only see a few tables from his location, one of those tables had the schoolteacher at it. He saw the back of the man’s broad shoulders and across from the man, a young, smiling woman with one elbow on the table and the other hand stirring her drink. The teenager was out of sight.

Shisui’s observation was cut short when a waiter stepped up and handed him a minimal menu. The older man was finely dressed in a black button down shirt with a small white apron around his waist. He bowed his head and greeted Shisui politely. Shisui looked over the menu quickly while he was asked what kind of drink he would like. “Water,” he said, putting down the menu. The waiter pursed his lips when Shisui immediately ordered as well, adding a serving of dango for dessert at the end.

“A little unusual for a sushi place to have dango, isn’t it?” He asked as he handed back the menu.

“The chef’s fiance has a taste for the treat,” the waiter replied. “He’s become quite adept at preparing them as a result.”

Shisui smiled. “I can’t wait to try it then.”

He nodded, took note of Shisui’s order with a little smile and then excused himself.

Drumming his fingers on the table, Shisui watches the other customers come and go. Weariness dragged on his shoulders, making him rest his elbow on the table and put his chin in his palm. His eyes fluttered closed on occasion, but he would glance up from time to time to see if Ogawa was up to something.

From the way that Ogawa had his hand across the table, resting just on the outside of the woman’s, his fingers brushing against her hand, Shisui pondered what sort of relationship they had. He could not actually see the teenaged girl next to the woman and had not seen her sit down with them.

While he was considering the possibility that the teenager was sitting with another group, either with family or friends her own age, the waiter came by and brought him his water. Blinking, he straightened up in his seat and thanked the man, sipping from the cold drink. The waiter mentioned something about his food being “prepared shortly”, and Shisui wondered if it was the ambiance of the restaurant or the people watching that was brightening his mood. He now saw that the necktie that the buttons at the man’s collar were gold in color.

Shisui smiled when the man had left.

He had just settled on the idea that the girl was incidental to Ogawa’s evening date with this mysterious woman when he caught sight of a slender hand reaching across their table from out of sight. They had just been served their food and the unseen person, the one Shisui presumed to be the highschool girl, was reaching out for some sushi. The woman’s attention moved to Ogawa’s right and she laughed at something said, covering her mouth reflexively. Shisui sipped his water and reconsidered his thoughts.

His own food was served shortly, distracting him again from his observations.

The plate was dark in color and circular. Arranged in a circular pattern was the sushi that Shisui had ordered. The fish ranged from white to dark, and he could only imagine the rich dark red of the tuna that was on his plate. A quick glance up told him that the waiter’s buttons were still golden and he could see the faint yellow-orange tinge to some of the salmon roe on another piece, but the dish didn’t have the effect on him that he was sure it was supposed to.

As he placed the first piece in his mouth, starting with the white fish, Shisui happened to look up.

Though the fish was soft and there was no spice added to the wonderful flavor of it, Shisui nearly choked on the mouthful of food.

Walking in through the door was a not very tall fellow wearing a long sleeved white shirt under the brightest orange sweater vest that Shisui had ever seen in his life. He could even see the brown and red stitching in it that made the bottom of the sweater look like a field of long grasses. Other spots of orange in the room sparked into life the moment the man stepped through the doorway, as if his aura alone was enough for that irregular, bright color to be seen.

On his arm, draped in a single shouldered, knee length dress of shimmering coral pink with deep pink accents, a long haired woman walked. Her black hair fell in curls over her shoulder and down her back. As they turned the corner towards the deeper interior of the restaurant, Shisui blinked in surprise to see her relatively unbound hair nearly went to her thighs. As she passed, accents of magenta seemed to trail behind, like sea foam and churning waters in the wake of a ship. Shisui’s attention moved down to his plate, briefly, where the orange and pink colors made his food come to life.

They weren’t alone in their party, however, following them was a man with silver hair and a face that Shisui recognized instantly. The crazy driver and bomb thrower was hot on the heels of this unlikely pair, wearing a similar blazer over button down as he had that first day Shisui saw him. He carried a briefcase with him and his furrowed brows showed his anxiousness as he hurried past. Shortly after him, Shisui saw an unusual pair walk by.

With jet black hair, dark clothes and a dark look to match, Shisui had no trouble at all recognizing the face of Hibari Kyoya. He instinctively began to hunch his shoulders to hide his face before he forced himself to stop. Hibari wasn’t looking at him but at his own companion, a brown haired man who had a hand on Hibari’s arm. Surprisingly enough, it was still attached to his own arm as they passed by and Shisui could hear the other man saying, “...never answer your phone so there really isn’t any other way I can ask for  you to come over except in person, isn’t there? You don’t have to stay long and you can bring Kusakabe to work in the office room while you’re there, I don’t care, but please make it a priority to visit this week. At least more than once.”

Shisui almost recognized the voice, almost. It was right on the tip of his tongue who it belonged to. The man’s face was turned away and Shisui didn’t see it before he was passing by.

Hibari looked away, nodding to the woman that Ogawa sat with and by the time he turned to address the man he was walking with, they were too far away to hear. Shisui was good at making himself run faster with his aura, but not at eavesdropping. He sighed and instead satisfied himself with another piece of sushi. The whole group of five vanished around another corner and out of sight.

Thoughtfully eating the mouthfuls of fish on his plate, Shisui considered all he had observed so far. Ogawa, the student and the woman- entering first and settling down. Just coming in to meet up and get a bite to eat? Maybe. Making sure the coast was clear? Perhaps. Hibari had directly noted the woman’s presence; Shisui knew that for certain.

And then this large group. The hostess had not led them through the restaurant. They seemed uninterested in looking for tables as they went by, but wrapped up in their own selves instead. The woman had been beaming, pleased on the arm of the man in the ugly sweater. The silver haired man had none of the aggressive and protective traits displayed when he came to the kid-Takeshi’s defense, only anxiety and rushed behavior.

Then Hibari.

Shisui had only seen Hibari on two prior occasions. Once had been when he was a new officer, accompanying his uncle to a peculiar diplomatic mission into the heart of the new Namimori Security Firm. He had stood in the back of the room, nervous and ready, with a few other officers while Hibari watched over the negotiations between Fugaku and Hibari’s own second in command. Although he said nothing, it was perfectly clear that he had no desire to be there any longer than he had to be. As soon as he had signed his name to the preliminary pact, Hibari had left the room.

The other time had been at a funeral.

The mechanical motion of bringing the sushi to his lips and eating it was what made Shisui clear his plate as his mind fell back into his own history. He had just finished the plate when a shadow came over his table. Looking up, he expected the waiter. Instead, he got the woman from Ogawa’s table.

She stood with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to one side. With a bit of a smirk she said, “Mind if I take a seat, Uchiha?”

Ice flooded Shisui’s veins, but he gestured to the empty chair beside himself, “Be my guest.” He glanced to his plate, expecting nothing but the charcoal grey remains of his food as the color drained from his vision. Instead, however, several small orange roe that remained forgotten on the side of his plate gleamed up at him like amber jewels. The sight of them threw his mind into turmoil.

Shoving the cloud from his mind as quickly as he could, he turned his attention to the woman and made a head gesture back to her table, “But won’t your boyfriend be upset to see you around a good looking fellow like me?”

She laughed and patted Shisui’s arm. “I don’t think he has anything to worry about. I like my men to be built up. A slender little Uchiha like you might just blow away in the wind next to Ogawa.”

This time, the name didn’t affect Shisui as badly. He instead turned his gaze dreamily to Ogawa’s shoulder and arm and said with a sigh, “He’s built like a brick house. I bet he fucks like one too.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her cheeks flush red and then she blinked, regained control over herself and laughed at his lewd comment. Not to be outdone, she reached for his plate of dango- when those had been delivered, he had failed to notice- and plucked a stick from the plate. “Only sometimes,” She said, fluttering her lashes and gaining Shisui’s attention again. “Other times he’s as gentle as can be, like a first snowfall, and just melts on contact with your skin.”

She ate the first piece when Shisui didn’t stop her. He kept his hands off the plate, one holding his chin again and the other tucked into the bent elbow. He had to keep his hands to himself, lest he lash out over the treat. _It’s just a simple dish_ , he reminded himself, _she doesn’t know who it was intended for._

He knew that his smile had a sharp edge to it, though, but she wasn’t backing down. “Ogawa Tatsuya,” He murmured thoughtfully, “Fucks like a house and melts like a snowflake. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind when I question him tomorrow.”

“You could or,” She ate another piece of dango, slowly, and made Shisui wait until she’d finished swallowing before she continued. “You could actually start looking for the kid you’re after.” She twirled the stick, one dango left on it. Itachi would have never done that, but Shisui said nothing about that.

“Looking for him where?”

“I’ll give you a little clue, free of charge,” She said, beaming like it was true. “When kids like that Takeshi drop out of Namimori, there’s only one place that they go into. All they want is to make sure the ones they care about are protected. If they get paid to help protect the ones they love, well then, everyone wins. So they all go to the same place. Do you know where that is?”

Namimori Security Firm.

She suggested Takeshi had gone to Namimori Security Firm.

Shisui fought down the urge to laugh in her face. He smiled instead, nodding his head. “I see. I think I understand. He wants to protect what’s most important to him. That’s what people want the most, after all.” _After money and sex and food and comforts and recognition and power and to be able to see all the colors of the world all the time._ Shisui had to clench his teeth so he say anything more.

She stood then, palm flat on the table and the other putting the last dango into her mouth. She gave him a wink, twirled the stick and tossed it, point down, to the table. Swallowing, she said, “Goodbye, Mr. Uchiha.” She walked off then, her footsteps bouncing and her hips swaying from side to side. The dango stick stuck point down in the table.

Plucking it from its place, Shisui placed it on the plate where the sushi had been served. The roe still gleamed up at him, bright and orange. His stomach churned at the sight of the two dango sticks. The waiter appeared like a ghost at his side. “Are we all finished tonight sir?”

“I just need a bag for the dango. They were going to be a gift for a friend.” Shisui gestured towards the treat.

“I understand.” The man bowed, took the plates and left again. Only a short while later, he returned with the bill and the packaged dango. Shisui paid the bill and stood. He took his package and gathered up his bag. As he moved towards the door, he was passed by a rather tall man in a black suit and hat. The man glanced to him, lifting a brow in slight surprise and then smirking as they passed in the walkway. Shisui glanced back, watching as the man looked to his right as he passed the table Shisui knew held Ogawa and his female companions and then disappeared farther back into the restaurant.

Saying goodnight to the hostess, Shisui went outside to find his bike, orange and black since he could not see the green of it, waiting for him.

Slowly, watching as orange faded from his vision the farther he got from the restaurant, Shisui returned home.

 

* * *

 

Baa-san was still up when Shisui arrived home. The kitchen was dark, but the adjacent sitting room was not. A small dim lamp nestled in the corner of the room gave off a soft glow. Shisui found himself standing in the doorway without remembering exactly how he got there. In his hand was the bag from the sushi shop. He walked into the room and greeted Baa-san quietly. “Evening.”

She paused as she lifted her tea to her lips and looked up at him. A small tv, soundless but with subtitles dancing across the bottom, was on the corner of the kotatsu that she sat at. There was tea set for only one.

Shisui could not remember ever seeing this room since his first tour of the house. He knelt down at one side of the table, placed the bag of dango on the surface in front of him and put his hands on his knees. He stared at the tv screen, surprised to see the subtitles were not in japanese. He couldn’t recognize it at all, in fact, beyond that the text was western written.

“This is very unusual,” the old woman said. “I hope you have some explanation for yourself.”

He was silent for a long time. Exhaustion, mental and physical, had taken its toll on Shisui and left him with an empty chest and a too full mind. The woman watched him, sipping her tea thoughtfully, as she looked at this Uchiha man that lived in her home, outside of the Uchiha “nesting grounds”. There were shadows under his eyes, deeper than those that had been there this morning, but with his back to the brightest light source in the room, this was to be expected. His dark eyes were downcast, yet focused on a single point between the bag he’d placed down and the tea kettle that held her tea.

“Parents are supposed to take care of their children,” Shisui said at last, saying the words as though he were removing pebbles from his mouth. Each word dropped with a weight that brought his shoulders sagging down. “Parents raise their children into adults and in return, the adults tend to their elderly parents.”

Baa-san placed her teacup down as gently as it could, but the ceramic still clinked together. “You are not a child, Shisui. How old are your parents?”

He looked through her at first but then his gaze focused on her face. His mouth was pressed into a thin line for a long time and then he said, “Did you have children, Baa-san?”

“No.” She said immediately, growing irritated with his long pauses. “I was childless. This building,” she gestured to the wall and ceiling, “belonged to someone else before I bought it from them.” When he stayed silent, she added, “Besides, my children would not have helped this old woman. I would not have been a good mother.”

Suddenly, Shisui pushed the bag to her. “These are for you. I can’t stand the thought of eating them, or giving them to someone else. If you just throw them out, I will not be offended.” He stood then, bowing slightly, “I should go to sleep now. Thank you for your company.”

Doubting that it was good company at all, Baa-san merely grumbled at these words. But as he left she unwrapped the package and looked down at the two sticks of dango, her breath was caught in her throat. There was a little sticker on the covered plastic top with the name of the business on it and that of the owners: _Tsuyoshi & Takeshi Yamamoto._

She looked back up at the little tv, where the Italian subtitles gave way on her program to commercials and she heaved a sigh, “Damn.”


	4. Options and Flexibility

Takeshi shivered as he stood on the roof with Shisui. He had his hands cupped around his cup of coffee and stared at his partner. Shisui hadn’t said anything to him after the mutter of “To the roof. We have to talk.”

Takeshi didn’t want to worry, but Shisui never spoke like that unless there was something to worry about. He sipped his coffee, kept silent and waited for the inevitable.

Shisui, arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed and chin resting against his chest, heaved a great sigh. He looked up at Takeshi and said, finally, “The kid’s affiliated with Namimori Security Firm.”

Glad he had just swallowed a mouthful of coffee, Takeshi gaped instead of choked. “What?” Shisui blinked at him and then began to explain.

Halfway through the explanation, Takeshi had to sit down on the roof. It was still early in the morning, so the gravel was cold, but he felt numb to it. He stared at Shisui, who spoke casually of how he’d come across Ogawa, a mysterious woman, the leader of the Namimori Security Firm, the mysterious grey haired bomber and a pair with an aura so bright that their colors stained the world around them with them.

He was shivering by the time that Shisui finished. Closing his eyes, he let out a trembling sigh. Fear clutched him just as badly as the cold as he finally looked up at Shisui. The world had drained of color, which was so unusual for him that he almost flinched at seeing the white sky behind Shisui’s dark head of hair. “We have to go there, don’t we. We have to go to see _him_.”

“Yeah.” Shisui whispered, “We have to go talk to Hibari.”

“God save us.” Takeshi shuddered.

* * *

“What part of Namimori Security Firm is this, Shisui?” Takeshi was attempting to smile but it did not last. He looked up at the brightly animated sign of a puppet smiling and moving. The words _Delight Your Friends! Terrorize Your Enemies! Find The Ideal Companion At Red Sand Puppet Emporium!_ blazed across the sign in a constant stream. Shisui was grinning as he headed to the door.

Takeshi scowled at his back as he followed. “Shisui. Why are we here?”

“You don’t want to be spooked at NSF do you?” Shisui said casually over his shoulder. “I figured we’d get some jitters out, get Sasori to do a little favor for us and be more prepared for this afternoon.”

“This is why I don’t let you drive,” Takeshi said as he followed Shisui into the shop. “I was gearing up for NSF. Not… this place.” He gestured around the inside of the shop, shivering as he did so.

‘This place’ was a small shop where the walls were lined with shelves and more of them were staggered across the open floor. Each shelf was a carefully crafted display of puppets, as well as a corner of the store devoted to shelves of carpentry and puppetry building and repair tools and items. Glassy, unseeing eyes followed them as they walked to the front desk. It was still early enough in the morning that Sasori sat behind the desk, nursing a hot cup of coffee and watching them approach with a lazy gaze.

Shisui walked up with a smile. He leaned one elbow against the counter and said, “Morning, Sasori. How are you?”

"Curious.” Sasori replied after a sip of his drink, “It’s been a while since you came in your uniform, Shisui.” He gave a little smirk that made Shisui laugh.

Takeshi lingered back a few steps, letting them talk without him. His arms were folded over his chest and he shifted in agitation as he looked around the shop at the staring, silent puppets.

“I was hoping we could work something out,” Shisui was saying, “You see, I’ve got a couple of mischievous ne’er-do-wells with a penchant for disguises through aura manipulation.” He leaned in towards Sasori, dropping his voice for intimacy, “Quick studies, these two, and with curious purple eyes. You wouldn’t mind putting your ear to the door and listening for any whispering for me, would you?”

“Do you have any description of them beyond that?” Sasori asked, setting the mug aside. “Or do you intend to make this as hard for me as possible?” Another quick smirk, one that Shisui returned.

Turning his hand quickly, Shisui produced a flash drive. He put it down and slid it across the counter with a fingertip, “All I have on them is here. It isn’t much, but it’ll show you what they can do. They’re good, Sasori, and they’re connected to something bigger than themselves. Will you look for me?”

“We are all connected to something bigger than ourselves,” Sasori murmured as he caressed Shisui’s hand and slipped the flash drive from his possession. He pocketed it and then straightened up, “Right now, I’d rather like to be connected to you. An advance on your payment, if you will.” He turned, walking towards the doorway behind the counter. “Follow me.”

Shisui gave a grin to Takeshi over his shoulder, “Watch the shop, partner. Don’t let anyone steal anything!” And then he jumped the counter in excitement and followed Sasori through the curtain and to the back.

Takeshi tightened his arms over his chest and exhaled sharply. “If I was detective,” he told the nearest puppet to him, “this wouldn’t be happening to me.” He squinted at it. “Yeah. I know he wouldn’t change but at least then we’d be properly paid for investigating shit like this.” He huffed and turned his gaze up to the ceiling, “Hiroko, how do I convince him to take the test with me?”

As if summoned by the invocation of her name, Takeshi’s phone went off in his pocket. He picked it up and grinned. There was Hiroko, the savior of his sanity, keeper of his heart and delight of his world. He picked up the phone and went to lean against the counter. If Shisui could take a break for one of his more intimate friends, Takeshi didn’t feel badly about using that same time to talk to his fiance. Besides, she would only call if it was _important._

* * *

The closet that Sasori led him too was dark and cramped. A dull yellow glow came from a disk near the wall, one that Sasori tapped with a hand to light up, and gave them enough light for what they were about to do. With his back to the door, Shisui grinned into the kiss, allowing Sasori to put his arms around his neck and draw him down into it. Despite the innuendo and Sasori’s impatient nature, it was a deep, languid kiss. Shisui took the time during it to relax, to run his hands down Sasori’s back and sides, to relearn the inside of his mouth and the feel of his body.

When Sasori pulled back at last, it was with half lidded eyes and swollen lips from kissing. “Mm, you know what I want to do?”

“What’s that?” Shisui trailed his fingertips along Sasori’s hips, already warm and content.

“I want to recreate how we first fucked,” Sasori murmured, “It’s been so long since then. I’d hate for you to forget how incredible it was. How does that sound?”

Shisui gave a little groan and pulled Sasori close, “Like the first time, hm? What if I get too rough? I’d hate to leave you bruises you didn’t ask for.”

“Our safeword is still in effect,” Sasori murmured against his lips. “I won’t forget it, even in the heat of the moment. So go ahead, Officer, tell me why you’re detaining me.”

Shisui gave one more gentle, quick kiss before his body went into action. He gripped Sasori roughly, twisting them around so that Sasori was against the door, his cheek pressed into the wood. One hand grabbed his handcuffs and the other pulled Sasori’s arms behind his back. His mouth was at Sasori’s ear, “This can go one of two ways, fucker,” his voice was a growl as the metal clicked and locked Sasori’s arms behind his back, “You give me the information you have now and you get to walk away from this with both hands intact or you give me the information later and I’ll get you to a doctor for your hands _eventually_.”

His body was close to Sasori’s. The hands twisted in the cuffs and Shisui gripped the chain and pulled back, straining his shoulders as he did so.

“There’s a th-third option,” Sasori’s voice was breathless. He twisted in Shisui’s hands, but was forced into stillness when Shisui shoved his elbow into his spine. “I think you’ll like it better than the other two, Officer.”

“Yeah?” Shisui slid that elbow up until his fingers could grip a handful of Sasori’s hair and turn his head to hear him better. “What’s that third option?”

“Fuck me,” Sasori’s hips pushed back, grinding his ass against Shisui’s crotch, “Fuck me and I’ll tell you anything you want to know. No broken hands. No interrogation room. No paperwork.” He licked his lip, his eye watching Shisui over his shoulder. “A cop once told me that the worst part about the job was all the paperwork he had to do for every little action. So fuck me and avoid the paperwork.”

Shisui laughed. He let go of the chain and circled his hand around to grab at Sasori’s groin. His fingers met a hard cock straining against cloth. “Are you that desperate for a fuck that you’d barter your ass to save me from filling out a bullshit form?” He squeezed Sasori, making the redhead groan and shudder against him, “Or do you just spread your legs for any cop who catches you red handed, hoping they’ll give you a pass if you’re an easy enough fuck?”

“We all work with what we’ve got,” Sasori panted, his eyes closed against the feeling of Shisui rubbing his hand up and down. “I’d rather not have my hands broken. But my ass is always down for a good fuck.” He ground backwards again and hissed through clenched teeth. “Why bother arguing with me when I can feel how hard you are? Fuck me. I’ll tell you what you want. It’s a simple exchange.”

“I’m not sure if the chance for disease is worth the fuck,” Shisui murmured, even as his fingers plucked at the button of Sasori’s pants. “Underbelly criminals like you carry all sorts of shit in their blood.”

“I’ve got condoms,” Sasori gasped. He bit his lip as Shisui pushed open the front of his pants and slid his hand around his cock. “In my wallet. Back pocket.” He gave a defiant look over his shoulder, “If you make me cum with your hand alone, I’ll lie to you about the information.”

He cried out in pain as Shisui’s hand tightened on his cock and his other hand dug into his hair and yanked hard, pulling his head back. “You lie to me and I’ll do worse than the clean break of your fingers I was thinking of. Maybe something with a hammer. Or just a fucking rock.”

Sasori shuddered, “Anything- Anything but that.” His hands tightened to fists behind his back, “I need my hands to live.”

Shisui was digging out his wallet, though, tossing it aside for the condom in it. He leaned forward, using his body to keep Sasori pinned as he pulled down the front of his own pants and put the condom on blindly. “Then you won’t lie to me. And you’ll put on a nice show as I fuck you like you so desperately want.” His hands pulled at Sasori’s pants, dragging them down to his thighs and then he lifted his foot to shove it past his knees to his ankles.

He reached into his own pocket for some lubrication, a small container he brought with him when he went to visit Sasori and coated his fingers. “In exchange, I’ll be kind. I won’t just fuck you without getting you ready first.” He braced a forearm against Sasori’s shoulders, keeping him pinned while his other hand groped down Sasori’s ass.

Watching Sasori’s face as he worked his fingers in, Shisui grinned. A red flush covered those cheeks and his mouth hung open for each moan. Brown eyes fluttered open and shut, sweat darkened the hair at his temples and, ever so occasionally, his tongue would loll out to lick his lips or to simply pant in the air. He leaned in and whispered to Sasori’s ear, “You’re a work of art.”

Sasori tensed and whimpered, his body coiled against the pleasure of the words. Shisui laughed softly and dug in another finger, rougher than the first, “You like that, don’t you? It figures an artist like you would want to be admired as he was fucked.” He breathed the words into Sasori’s ear, enjoying the way Sasori squirmed against him while he did so. “You’re falling apart right in front of my eyes and you look like a masterpiece doing it.” He bit lightly at Sasori’s earlobe. “I bet I could break you to pieces and put you back together and all your little cracks would glitter with gold.”

“Please,” Sasori whimpered, head pressed against the door, eyes closed tightly. “Please.”

Shisui ran his tongue up the side of Sasori’s neck, delighting in the shudder. His fingers continually stretched and worked and moved into and out of Sasori. “Please what?”

“Do it,” his voice was a soft, needy thing that made Shisui’s hips push forward on their own account. “Please. Break me. I want to be…” He was cut off with a groan as Shisui dragged his fingers out all at once.

Shisui rubbed the head of his cock against Sasori’s entrance and murmured against the skin of his neck. “Want to be what?”

“Beautiful,” Sasori whispered. “Golden. Break me and- and- put me back together again.”

“I’ll fill you with gold,” Shisui whispered as he pushed in, both his hands on Sasori’s hips to hold him in place, in the right angle. “I’ll make you beautiful.” He licked his lips, grunting in pleasure as he finally, finally, gave some attention to his cock. He rocked a little at first, adjusting his footing, adjusting their position and then tightened his grip and began to fuck.

Sasori’s words fell away in favor of his cries. His hands twisted behind his back, gripping the front of Shisui’s shirt on occasion. His legs shook and he slid against the door as Shisui thrust hard into him. There was no mercy in Shisui’s actions. His fingers dug in and his body moved quick. He felt the curling, boiling sensation of his orgasm creeping up on him and laughed with the pleasure of it.

One hand crawled its way over Sasori’s hip and squeezed at his cock. He murmured half-words into Sasori’s ear and brought him arching over the edge that way. Shisui caught his breath, stilling, waiting for Sasori to come to a trembling stop before he went back to fucking. Now his hands held Sasori up, as much as the door braced his chest and head. Shisui panted and groaned and came with a thundering of his pulse in his ears.

Resting his forehead on Sasori’s shoulder, he breathed in slowly, steadily. Sasori stirred beneath him and he pulled out. Absently he unlocked the handcuffs first, putting them back into place before taking off his condom and tying it shut. He was fixing up his pants when Sasori draped arms around his neck again and distracted him with long, lingering kisses. Shisui smiled against his lips and murmured, “You’re beautiful.”

Sasori, still flushed from the fucking, gave him a small, delighted smile and whispered, “You helped make me that way.”

They kissed a while longer before Sasori tugged his clothes back on and they left the closet. He tapped the light as they left together.

Takeshi stood alone in the store, back to them, on the phone. Shisui could tell just from his laughter who he was speaking too. He gave Sasori a wink and went around the counter this time and up to his partner.

“Tell Hiroko I said hi.”

Takeshi jumped and turned towards him. He looked Shisui over and then rolled his eyes. To his fiance he said, “Shisui says hi, love.” He listened and then turned to Shisui and said, “She says hi back. And that you should come to dinner sometime.”

“Sounds great. Let me know when.” Shisui nodded. He gave a little wave to Sasori and then nudged Takeshi’s arm. “Come on partner, we’ve got to head out.”

“Yeah. I gotta go.” Takeshi said into the phone as he followed Shisui down the aisle. He finished up the phone call as they stepped outside. Shisui stretched his arms over his head then rolled his shoulders and gave a contented sigh. Takeshi arched an eyebrow at him.

“Now that that’s taken care of,” Shisui said with a grin, pulling out the keys to the cruiser from his pocket. “Let’s go to NSF.”

Takeshi sighed and took the keys from him. “Finally. And then we’ll grab lunch. Wish we could get a drink too, I’m going to need it after this morning.”

Shisui just laughed and joined him in the car.

* * *

Namimori Security Firm was, to the uninformed eye, a tired, three story building tucked into the end of a dead end street. Even with the high concrete walls that surrounded the property and the large, thorny bushes that lined the inside of those walls were not unusual in the neighborhood that it was established. The gate stood open during the day, allowing foot traffic to and from the building and around the left side there was a small parking lot that was shared with the other office buildings in the area.

No obvious guards loitered outside and there was no patrol of the building, either. Takeshi parked far down the street from the place, though, and they walked up towards it in a casual yet official manner. They were, after all, still in uniform.

All types of people went into and out of NSF. Even as they approached, a cluster of five women left the property. They wore similar business attire and carried files in their arms as they walked through the gate and turned towards the parking lot to the side. A man passed them, leaving the parking lot and headed towards the gate.

He stopped before entering, seeing the pair of them and blinking a few times. When Shisui grew close enough, the man smiled. Shisui blinked and smiled in reply, “Basil? Is that you?”

Takeshi took a quick breath in at his side, but said nothing as Shisui lengthened his stride and walked up to meet Basil. He kept close at his partner’s heels, but hung back far enough to not immediately be part of their conversation.

“I didn’t think you would recognize me after one brief meeting.” Basil said with a smile. “How are you, Shisui?” He held out his hand to Shisui.

“I’m good with faces,” Shisui volunteered as he shook it, his eyes going over Basil’s body appreciatively. He found the light sweater that Basil wore over a button down shirt to be charming. Especially so, since he could see the blue and green of the diamond pattern of the sweater. His grin grew broad, “It’s a surprise to see you here.”

“My boss does some business with Namimori Security Firm,” he paused to laugh gently, “I’m his proxy so he doesn’t have to deal with Hibari in person. Which is for the best, considering how inflexible both men can be.”

Takeshi gave a sigh. Shisui joined in Basil’s soft laugh, delighting in the flash of blue of his eyes, the way he could see a bit of amber in his brown hair. He took a step closer, switching his mind away from police work with hardly a bat of the eye. “It makes sense why he would send you, then. You’re quite flexible.”

Basil gave him a pleased smile and said teasingly, “You’ve only seen a little of what I can do. I’ve not seen you at the gym recently. You haven’t been avoiding me, have you?” His eyes danced and Shisui resisted the urge to tell him how lovely he looked.

He could do that later. Shisui was sure there would be plenty of opportunity for that. “Of course not. Only my work has kept me away from your skillful hands, Basil,” he dropped his voice again and lifted a hand to touch Basil’s arm. Basil leaned into the touch, leaned closer to him and smiled. “I promise to be a better student and I’ll prove it by showing up tonight for some of your guidance.”

“You make it sound as though I’m teaching you something other than yoga,” Basil murmured with that same smile. “And I accept your apology. I understand how work can get in the way of the things we do to keep ourselves happy and healthy.”

Takeshi abruptly cleared his throat.

Shisui took his hand from Basil’s arm after a quick squeeze and stepped back. He saw what Takeshi was warning him about out of the corner of his eye. A man approached from the Firm, his eyes on them. Of course, they had been standing at the open gate as they spoke and touched. Shisui gave one more smile to Basil and turned to look at the man. He recognized him from his times dealing with NSF and with Hibari before.

Kusakabe stopped a couple of feet in front of them and gave a welcoming nod. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Basil replied, stepping forward, “Kusakabe, I’m here to visit with Hibari.”

Shisui held very still. The way Basil stood, slightly ahead of him, his face turned slightly. The way he spoke Kusakabe’s name, the word visit, pleasantly and yet firmly. Shisui was glad he had stopped smiling because the expression would have dropped from his face in a flash at the realization.

Basil had been the one on Hibari’s arm at the sushi restaurant.

Basil was affiliated with that group of five, with Ogawa and that woman, with Namimori Security Firm beyond the work he may or may not be doing for another party.

Shisui let out his held breath very slowly and came back to the world in time to hear Basil say, “I know the way to his office. Thank you.” He gave a quick duck of the head and walked past Kusakabe. He glanced over his shoulder at Shisui and Shisui felt his face respond with a smile despite the weight of his thoughts. After all, Basil’s eyes were still that brilliant blue.

Takeshi stepped forward, “We have some questions that we’d like to ask you, since Hibari himself is unavailable.” He kept his tone polite but Shisui could see the relief on his shoulders. He had not wanted to see Hibari at all. Shisui had to agree. “Would you like to answer them out here or inside?”

Kusakabe half turned and gestured to the building. “I have a room we can talk in. Please. Follow me.” He too was polite, but his shoulders stiff, as he led them into the building.

Takeshi met Shisui’s gaze as they walked behind him and mouthed _Yoga? Really?_

Shisui shrugged and grinned. _Gotta keep flexible._

Takeshi rolled his eyes and stepped up to follow Kusakabe through the narrow doorway and into the building beyond.

* * *

“That was probably the most pointless interview we’ve had all year,” Takeshi said as he slumped back in the booth. Shisui sat across from him at the table, shoulders hunched and his chin in his palm. He grit his teeth, keeping his gaze on the table to spare Takeshi his glare. They sat in one of their favorite restaurants for lunch, needing a bit of solace after the fruitless questioning with Kusakabe.

Takeshi sprawled in his seat, hands at his sides, legs open and head back. He gave a sigh that pulled from his belly and ended in an annoyed groan. “That woman knew what she was doing, all right, sending us to him.”

Shisui snorted, "Sorry for the waste of time. We should have just gone back to Ogawa this morning.” His words were muffled by his hand.

Takeshi lightly slapped the table with his palm. “I know you, Shisui. You followed your gut in listening to her because she was right. That kid went to NSF. It’s just that they’re not willing to admit it. And we can go back to Ogawa and ask him more about the kid. Or other students. Better yet, we should go talk to the club members. If he was as popular as Ogawa said, then we’ll be able to get something from them.”

His hand slid over the table and rested on Shisui’s arm. “Don’t look so down, Shisui. You know how your smile makes my world light up.”

“Is that something a man with a fiance should be saying?”

Takeshi jumped but didn’t pull his hand away. Both he and Shisui turned to look at the man standing at the end of the table. The man gave them a brief smile and gestured to the booth, “May I?”

“Satoshi!” Takeshi grinned and scooted to the side so his friend could sit beside him. “I had no idea you were here!”

“And your phones are on silent or you would have gotten my call earlier.” Satoshi sat, unbuttoning his suit coat as he did. “I had to call Hiroko to find out where you two would be for lunch.” He gave a little smile to Takeshi and then turned the expression to Shisui.

Shisui uncoiled his hand from his chin and gave a little smile. “Sorry for the chilly welcome, Satoshi. It’s been a roller coaster morning.”

Nodding, Satoshi rested his elbows on the table and leaned in. “I’m sorry that I’m not going to make it any better. But you know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important. I’m as busy as you two are. Or I was.”

Takeshi leaned back in his seat again and patted Satoshi on the shoulder with one hand. “It doesn’t matter to me what kind of news you have, I’m still glad to see you. You never seem to get out of that lab of yours anymore. Hiroko misses your witty banter at dinner. And I’ve been dying to show you my new grill.”

But Shisui just looked at Satoshi and asked, “What is it?”

Satoshi sighed. He drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before flattening his hand out and stilling the motion. He pitched his voice low, leaning in slightly to speak, “You know how I’ve been working in genetics and doing some long term research on hereditary traits and illnesses, right? We have a lot of particular equipment that is specifically designed to pull out the information from the blood and DNA that we need.”

Shisui nodded. His hand was back in place, chin against the heel and fingers curled over his lips. He kept his eyes half closed, staring at the charcoal grey of Satoshi’s coat and the faint indigo colored tie clasp he wore.

“I don’t know if you two have heard about it, because my boss really didn’t want it to get out and only went to the police on my insistence.” His brows furrowed as he hesitated a moment, “But someone got into the lab while we were away. They got access to the machines, knew how they worked and used them. Not only that but some of our… Some of our samples were taken.”

His gaze flicked to Takeshi briefly and then settled back on Shisui. “Some of the ones you gave me. Yours and your cousin’s.”

Shisui’s world bottomed out. He pulled his eyes up from Satoshi’s coat, where the charcoal had gone black, and stared at him. His fingers tightened on his elbow, over his mouth, he stared. The world had never looked like this before. There was no color, no grey. Only black and white. No shadows. No gradients.

He let out a harsh, painful breath and forced his shoulders to relax. No. He had seen the world like this before. Blinking he lowered his hand. “Who did it? Do you know? Does anyone have any idea? What else was taken?”

Satoshi nodded again, though Shisui thought that was more for himself. He opened his mouth to speak and suddenly stopped when the waitress came by with their food and a smile. Shisui didn’t even look at her as it was placed down and Satoshi made a quick order for himself. When she was gone again, Satoshi made a show of sipping the water she provided and clearing his throat. Then he began to talk.

“Other Uchiha samples that we had, even the ones with more generic labelling, were taken or tampered with as well. Even the ones from members that aren’t part of the main branch or are a generation out of the clan. You know my boss is a clansman. He didn’t want to share that information with the police because he knew how your uncle would respond.” He glanced to Takeshi again, but not as if he didn’t think Takeshi shouldn’t be listening. Shisui recognized the look. It was asking for support.

Takeshi gave it without batting an eye. He leaned forward like Satoshi and sat shoulder to shoulder with him. “I think we can all guess how _he_ would respond.”

“We didn’t know anything had happened for a while because we were out of the lab for a conference over the last few days,” Satoshi said, looking back to Shisui. “Whoever was there got in shortly before we left, if we can trust the tracker on the doors. They mark the time whenever they open or shut and who it was that opened them.” His hands pressed against the table again. Shisui glanced down at them, wondering if his knuckles were turning white from the pressure. Not that he could see. The gradients still hadn’t returned. Both his hands were white except for the black that should have been grey shadows in the dips between his fingers.

“They took my badge, copied it somehow because I still have mine,” Satoshi whispered, “The only reason I didn’t get arrested for this was because there were dozens of witnesses that I left the county to go to the conference. There are plenty of cameras and witnesses and even a recording of the brief speech I made on some of our progress. They can’t pin it to me, but they’re trying to, Shisui.”

“I won’t let them.” Shisui whispered. For the first time, he let his hand drop and pressed it over Satoshi’s. He knew his grip was hard, but Satoshi didn’t flinch. “What else?”

“I…” Satoshi hesitated again. He turned his hand under Shisui’s and gripped his tightly in return. “I didn’t tell the police this part but whoever showed up, they went through my notes thoroughly. They went through my desk. I have some pictures. Of us. From school. I keep them there on my desk, you know how it helps my boss think I’m faithful to the Uchiha.”

Shisui snorted. “There’s nothing there to have faith in.” He knew his voice was dark, hard as rock, because Takeshi put his hand over Shisui’s wrist and gripped it tightly. He gave Satoshi a nod to continue.

“He left this behind one of the picture frames. It’s addressed to you.” Satoshi reached into his coat and pulled out an envelope. He slid it across the table to Shisui. “Shisui,” his voice shook for the first time since he had joined them, “Who is this guy?”

Shisui took his hand back from the grasp of his friends’ hands and flipped the envelope open. He took out the letter and unfolded it. He stared down at it. The handwriting wasn’t familiar, but it didn’t need to be.

_The research you attempted to thwart has been continued in other places._   
_The diluted samples here are enough for now but soon that snake will want whole ones._   
_Behind clan walls the young ones are hard to collect from,_   
_but inside a hospital any man can walk free if he studied hard enough._   
_If you want to spare the veins flooded with chemo, find me._   
_If you want to save him from the treatments that will kill him, help me._   
_You know where I’m waiting._

Blinking, Shisui folded the note back up and put it into the envelope again. He looked at the off-white tone of the envelope and then lifted his head to see the grey was back in Satoshi’s coat. The indigo of his tie clasp glittered in the light and Shisui gave them both a gentle look. “I know him. I’m sorry he broke into your lab, Satoshi. The cops aren’t going to find him. They didn’t before and that was when he was helping a serial kidnapping murderer.”

Takeshi jerked at that. He had been eating, never one to give up warm food even in the face of Shisui’s anger, and swallowed with difficulty. “You’ve got to be fucking with me. It can’t be him. He wouldn’t dare come back to town. You said he wouldn’t dare.”

“I said he wouldn’t come back and murder anyone. I didn’t promise he wouldn’t come back at all.”

Satoshi, only a half step behind their cop mind, gaped, “You can’t mean… But he…” he swallowed noisily. “You did say that they caught the wrong bastard for those crimes. But why is he back? Why did he take those samples? Break into my lab…”

“What does he want?” Takeshi leaned in, asking what Satoshi couldn’t say.

Shisui felt his broad smile turn into a slashing one, cutting across his face the way that his thoughts had cut up his emotions into tiny, bite sized pieces the would be able to process later. “What they all want,” he delighted when Takeshi and Satoshi smiled back at him, “some Uchiha dick.”

He laughed then and when the waitress showed up a moment later with Satoshi’s meal, he gave her a charming smile and a wink. She flushed and bowed and hurried away, glancing over her shoulder at them. “I know where to find him. I’ll take care of that part. Sorry again, that he broke into your lab. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with that, or your research, Satoshi.”

“Of course.” Satoshi nodded and gave a private smile to them. “I doubt there will be much to do, though. My boss hasn’t come back after his lecture at the compound. I’ve already started searching for other opportunities. It is a shame to have to leave behind this particular study, but it won’t be the end of my career.”

Shisui turned his attention to Takeshi who gulped down another mouthful of food and said, “I don’t like you sleeping with that guy, but I know how it is with your cousin. Just make sure you get what you need from him before he fucks out of the country.”

“If he fucks off without giving me what he promises, it won’t be to get out of the country.” Shisui’s tone was light, but his grin was still wolfish.

Takeshi nodded to that. “Good. Want me to let Hiroshi know about it?”

Shisui nodded, “Would you? I’ve got plans for after work. Some tension I’ve got to work out.”

Takeshi rolled his eyes and looked to Satoshi, “He met a yoga instructor at the gym. Long brown hair, blue eyes, sweater wearing type.”

Satoshi nodded, “Don’t forget to wear protection. It’s a wonder you haven’t caught anything yet, Shisui.”

Shisui laughed again and dug heartily into his meal. “So, Satoshi, how was the conference? Tell me everything. I’m dying to hear about your trip.”

He continued to smile as his friend began to relate the event. Takeshi paid attention too, though he drew out his phone at one point to text Hiroko. Shisui relaxed, his eyes catching on the indigo clasp of Satoshi’s tie and the glittering teal of a star pin on Takeshi’s lapel.


End file.
